Experimentation
by TimeAndChance
Summary: In which Mat reluctantly tells of his boyhood experiences to Birgitte  SLASH Rand/Mat


**Disclaimer:** I do not own the wheel of time nor any of the characters in it.  
**Warnings:** SLASH! Rand/Mat This fic has mature content between two guys. If you're not okay with that then I suggest you click the back button.

A/N: I just recently got into this series and I love it! I'm really upset however that there are hardly any stories about Rand/Mat, because once I get into a new series I always go and search up fics about the pairings that I like. There definitely needs to be more of this pairing, so I decided to write this. Please R&R, feedback is always welcome :)

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Birgitte sighed and stared out the open window, remembrance and amusement written plain on her fair face. "Have you ever been intimate with a man?"

Mat choked and spat his drink out on his lap. The question had been rhetorical of course and not really directed at him, but still it sent a momentary shock through his body. "What kind of bloody question is that?"

Birgitte turned and laughed openly at his reaction. "Men are always so touchy about those kinds of things." Her grin was wide as she waggled her eyebrows. "Maybe it's because they secretly do lie with one another."

Mat shook his head and gulped down the remaining liquid in his cup. The things that came out of that woman's mouth! Light, most of the time he was fine with the brash words she spouted off or the indecent topics she spoke of, but honestly, sometimes it was a bit much for him. Especially that topic.

Avoiding looking at her he filled his cup to the brim. He would most likely have a wicked hangover in the morning but right now he could care less. Bloody women and their way of catching him off guard.

"I'm only joking you know," her tone was full of mirth, and he thought he could hear, a bit of reproach. She got up from her perch on the windowsill and sauntered over to the table he was seated at. Easing into the chair opposite him, she took a swig out of the bottle. "Unless," she leaned forward with a fake conspiring look, "You actually have."

Mat shot her an annoyed glance and took another slug of his alcohol. He resolutely decided not to answer any of her queries, who knew where they would land him. Besides, she was venturing into territory he would rather keep locked up. Memories that contained experiences of his younger days that would be humiliating in the least if anyone found out. They were best shoved away.

He frowned at Birgitte and wondered how to divert her attention from this conversation. She, just like many other women, always seemed to see through him when he lied.

Abruptly he noticed that her face had changed from that impish expression to one of consideration. With growing horror Mat watched her eyes widen in astonishment.

"You have," her voice was laced with incredibility.

Mat froze in disbelief. How in the blasted world did she do that? The notion that she might be able to read minds ghosted through his head as he stared at the legendary warrior. "What? No! Don't go assuming things like that!" he sounded pretty convincing to his own ears, and if it were anyone but her sitting there they would have been convinced. As it was, Birgitte continued to look at him as a cat would a mouse.

"Blood and Bloody ashes," he muttered as he downed yet another drink. Scowling he took the bottle from her hands and refilled his cup with the bitter fiery liquid.

"Oh Mat," Birgitte chuckled. "You wear to much on your face."

She was one to talk. Right now curiosity and excitement were plastered on her flushed skin. Her wide eyes, only slightly glazed from the drink, revealed how desperately she wanted to know.

Placing a strained charming smile on his lips Mat stood up, and immediately regretted it as the world dipped around him. "Well I'll bet you're feeling tired, and seeing as you've finished half the bottle yourself, you're probably going to want to sober up before sleep." He ushered her out of the chair, which was not such an easy feat as it normally would be, what with them swaying around as if on a ship in the stormy seas.

Birgitte stumbled as she turned towards him. "Mat please? You know I'd never tell a soul. I've kept your other secrets as sound as anything."

It was a bit unnerving to watch her act in a pleading way. Mat shot a quick glance to the door.

"Fine," he said in a low reluctant voice. Burn her for always making him admit things he didn't want to. But he knew that she was the safest person he could tell. " I have been," he winced, " intimate with a man, although I wouldn't have called us men at the time."

"Oh," Birgitte uttered softly, and dragged him by the arm to sit on his bed. Her eyes were eager and showed that she was ready to soak up everything he said. " So it was a kind of experimentation when you were boys?"

Mat nodded slowly, resigned to the inevitable fact that he would spill everything. "We were fourteen, an age where we were… curious about things."

Birgitte nodded. "Yes, though out my different life times I have heard of that happening. It's probably more common than you think." She cocked her head to the side. "So this happened when you lived in the Two Rivers Right?"

Mat breathed in deeply through his nose.

"Was it… with any of the two ta'veren?" There was a definite wondering in the last question.

Mat rubbed the back of his neck and stared at the ceiling before answering. " Yeah, it was Rand."

Birgitte gripped his arm hard, as though in danger of tipping over. "The dragon reborn?" her keen voice whispered. "Tell me."

Mat swallowed. "Well…"

...

"Mat, are you sure it's okay to leave those chores until later?" said the redheaded boy suspiciously. He was peering out the door of the Cauthon barn and looked as if he expected Mat's father to come and tell them to get working.

Mat rolled his eyes as he climbed the ladder to the loft. He gave Rand a sneering grin at the top. "It doesn't matter if the chores get done now or later, so long as they get done by the end of the day. Now, you coming up or what?"

Rand let out a small sigh, flicked his eyes to the door once more and climbed up the rickety wood. The loft was spacious with bales of hay heaped almost messily along the sides and pieces strewn across the floorboards. Sunlight shone in from the big open widow illuminating the golden straw creating an atmospheric feel of contentment.

Mat flopped himself down on a soft pile and basked in the warm light. This was where he always came to relax and sleep. Usually when he was shirking his chores.

Rand came and sat beside him, stretching his long legs out. The tall boy looked more at ease up here, but the attitude change didn't surprise Mat. He had a way of getting the other to go along with what he wanted. Well, most of the time. And to be honest, Rand like goofing off as much as he did, so he supposed he shouldn't take to total credit.

Lying back in the warmth with his arms behind his head Mat spoke. "There's going to be a party at Mistress Al'Vere's inn next weekend. You going?"

Rand shrugged. "Maybe," he said noncommittally.

Mat raised an eyebrow and grinned. "I'd have thought you'd be more eager to dance with all those girls, especially," his eyes glinted mischievously, "Egwene."

Rand turned red as he glared at Mat. "Wh-what? Why would I care if she's there or not!"

Mat laughed perhaps a bit jeeringly. "Whatever." He shifted around on the hay. "Have you kissed her yet?" he couldn't resist adding, and got a mouthful of hay as Rand dropped a bunch of the slender sticks on him.

Spitting the straw out Mat sat up and brushed the pieces off, flinging some at Rand's face. "Seriously, you have kissed a girl before haven't you?"

"Of course I have," Rand said defensively. He leaned in closer, a bit of a triumphant look on his face. "I even kissed Emry Lewin. With tongue."

Mat felt his mouth hang open involuntarily. Although, it figured that Rand, the 'pretty boy' would have gotten farther than him with a girl. A flash of annoyance crossed him and he quickly squashed it down before it showed. His curiosity outweighed his little jealousy.

"What was it like?" he asked in a perfectly casual voice.

Rand frowned apparently in thought. "Well… wet I guess."

Mat stared not impressed. He eyed Rand expectantly. "Was it good or not?"

"I don't know, I think it was."

Mat snorted at Rand's lack of forthcoming. "I bet you were bad."

Grey eyes flicked down to brown ones full of indignation. "I was not," the redhead retorted hotly. "Besides, you're not really in a position to judge me. You've never kissed a girl like that before. I bet I'm a better kisser than you would be!"

Mat narrowed his eyes and tilted his head up. "I don't think so." He couldn't believe that Rand would actually think he was a better kisser than him. No matter that Mat himself had limited experience; he was beginning to have a way with girls that Rand couldn't match. Light! Who cared if he hadn't progressed beyond a few lip pecks and… and, his thoughts broke off in a jumble. Why was his face so close to Rand's? Their noses were almost touching before Mat yanked his head back, his face heating.

Rand's pale complexion showed a tinge of red as he stared at Mat with a weird expression.

Blood and bloody ashes he wished his heart would stop pounding so hard without any reasonable explanation.

Rand opened his mouth uncertainly, his eyes darting from Mat to the floor and back again. "Do you… do you want to- I mean that is, what if…" he looked increasingly uncomfortable, as if the words were a struggle to get out. The red tinge grew across his cheeks.

Mat's mouth turned dry. He had a feeling he knew what Rand was getting at and could barely process it. He felt like laughing hysterically; wasn't _he _the one who usually came up with woolbrained ideas?

The warmth in his face spread to rest of his body and he could not for the life of him, slow down the erratic pumping of his heart. "Only if you want to… it, it could just be like practice or something," Mat said carefully, studying the floor intently.

"Uh yeah, practice. Completely… normal experimental practice."

"Right, it's nothing out of the ordinary really."

"Exactly."

Mat tore his gaze from the ground, looked up at Rand and swallowed. He inched closer to the other boy until their thighs touched. Rand lifted a hand and gently cupped Mat's jaw as he slowly brought their faces together. Their lips met in a chaste kiss that made Mat all to aware of the redhead. His senses felt like they were going into overdrive as those soft lips pressed against his own. He could smell the muskiness of Rand, the smell of earth and grass that was common for a Sheppard boy.

Rand pulled back for moment and placed a hand on Mat's hip before pressing his lips to Mat's again. This time the tall boy moved his mouth against Mat's, nipping at his lower lip.

To Mat it seemed almost instinctual to open his mouth as that tongue glided across his lips. As soon as he did, Rand wasted no time delving into the smaller boy's hot cavern.

Mat gripped the front of Rand's shirt, bringing their bodies practically flush alongside each other as he rhythmically moved his mouth with Rand's. His tongue slid and danced with the other, perhaps in a bit of an unrefined motion, but his lack of skill was surprisingly not bad. His lips nipped and sucked with as much vigor as Rand's as their tongues darted about in Mat's mouth. He had no idea that kissing would like this. He never suspected that he would feel an uncontrollable wanting spread through his body that lit fires in certain places.

Breaking off the kiss, Mat pulled Rand down over him by his shirt. Back pressed against the hay, he tilted his head up to capture Rand's lip again. The fervor of the mouths increased as their tongues worked together at a passionate pace.

The hands that gripped Mat's hip slowly began to message circles into his overheated flesh. Mat wrapped his own arms around the broad back above him, exploring the hard muscles with deft fingers. Their bodies strained to be as close as possible though the fabric of their clothes and Mat didn't care that it was turning out to be more than he bargained for. It was all he could do to pull Rand closer to him, to make sure there was no possible space between them.

He gasped for air when Rand drew his mouth away and started nibbling on the underside of his jaw. The teasing bites and licks on sensitive skin elicited small pants and a giggle that he tried to stifle. He swore he could feel a smirk on those lips that graced his neck.

Well, light burn Rand if he thought he could take complete advantage. As the boy attacked his neck with deep hard sucks, Mat ran his hands under the other's shirt. Caressing the sides of the warm torso, he felt the shivers of the redhead from his feather light touches. His stroking hands outlined the contours of Rand's hips before grabbing the waistband and grinding their pelvic regions together.

Rand wasn't the only one that let out a groan at the pressure from their groins. The mouth on Mat's neck bit down harder than before, but whatever pain Mat experienced from that drowned in the impatient need to get more pleasure from their dry-humping.

One of Rand's hands slid across Mat's stomach to the buckle on his pants. He undid the clasp and began pulling the garment down when Mat clued in. Instead of freaking out, which he figured in his semi-coherent brain was the normal thing to do; he set his own hands to undo Rand's trousers. They were really past the point of no return he rationalized.

Neither of them wore underclothes; it was easier in the summertime to go around with nothing underneath breeches, and for that Mat was thankful because it meant less time disposing of clothes.

With their lower bodies bare, the skin-to-skin contact was more satisfying. The hardened flesh of their erections rubbed against each other and Mat had no time to feel embarrassed about what they were doing because light, he found himself craving more and more of the pleasure that it brought.

He wrapped his legs around Rand's waist and bucked into their rocking hips. The desire to get further satisfaction was overwhelming as their arousals pressed together. Rand reached down and grabbed each of their hard lengths, rubbing and stroking them as one.

Mat knew he was failing at holding in the gasps and pants that transpired from Rand's ministrations but it couldn't be helped. All this pressure was building up inside of him and he desperately needed release. Small wonder that he couldn't last long when this was the first time he'd ever been touched so intimately.

Rand's mouth came away from his neck groaning with audible pleasure as he pumped their erections harder. Mat reached up and pulled the other boy's head towards his in a bruising kiss. It was definitely sloppier this time, with tongues running everywhere. Moans and gasps punctuated their probing mouths as they both drew to their limit. The grinding motion of their hips grew increasingly erratic, as did Rand's stroking.

Moaning deeply into Rand's mouth Mat came, his head whirling as the ecstasy surged through his body, a wave of pleasure such that he never felt before. He dimly comprehended Rand coming above him as the boy let out a low sound of gratification. The redhead moved his mouth off of Mat's and slumped against him, holding his warm arms around Mat's more slender body.

As the high from his orgasm faded Mat became more acutely aware of his surroundings. He could hear himself and Rand's heavy breathing as they recovered, and could feel their hearts beating close to one another. He could also feel the annoying sticks of straw poking his back through his shirt and shifted to get rid of the sensation. Rand lifted his head at Mat's movements.

Mat stilled as he looked into Rand's eyes. Surprisingly he didn't find this to be quite as awkward as it might have been. Light knew why, maybe he just wasn't the type for weird situations. Offering a cocky raise of his eyebrows he stared at the redhead.

Rand grinned appearing slightly amused and spoke. "So… we probably shouldn't tell anyone about this."

Mat snorted and sat up, pushing Rand off him in the process. "Really." His tone was sarcastic but without any bite. "I was thinking of announcing it at the next town meeting." He stretched out his back as Rand picked up their trousers. Sitting in a semi cross-legged position he gave no concern to his partial nudity, it was a little too late to be embarrassed by that.

"You know," he said casually as he took his pants from Rand, "I still think I'm the better kisser."


End file.
